


HATHOR

by ivorygates



Series: Across Five Aprils [9]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Daniverse, Episode: s01e14 Hathor, Fix-It, Gen, Missing Scene, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-05
Updated: 2007-07-05
Packaged: 2017-11-25 23:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/643946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorygates/pseuds/ivorygates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hathor had no interest in making Danielle Jackson her Pharaoh...</p>
            </blockquote>





	HATHOR

She's been at the SGC -- back at Cheyenne Mountain -- for almost a year now. It was March when she returned. She's been here through summer and her birthday and Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. Her first real Christmas, tree and trimmings and all the decorations, courtesy of a conspiracy between Jack and Sammy, who treat both her and Teal'c as equally alien at times, and equally in need of cultural indoctrination.

Jack more than Sammy.

And it's spring again, she's just managed to live through her first winter in Colorado Springs. Here almost a year. Skaara has been in the hands of the _Goa'uld_ for a year.  
  
The years are longer on Abydos than they are here. It is not yet time for her to keep -- or fail to keep -- her appointment there. But that time is soon to come.

They are no closer to finding Skaara than they were on the day he was taken in the dungeon on Chulak. Farther, in some ways. They know how vast the _Goa'uld_ Empire is now. How monstrous their enemy is. They've been to almost thirty planets now without finding even a trace of Skaara. They found Apophis once, but the Nox wouldn't let them keep or interrogate him.

At the moment she's dealing with the embarrassment of having recently been dead. Not that she was (this time), but they thought she was. For three days. They had an official memorial service. A wake. Her lawyer was notified.

The rest of SG-1 was sent to close her apartment.

When she got back from P3X-866, she spent days cleaning up. Her books and files were scattered everywhere, pulled from her shelves and piled in boxes by Jack and the others. They'd been in her apartment in her absence, treated it as if it were a public space. It was disturbing -- even though they were her friends -- to think of them there. Going through her books and papers at will. Sammy had read some of her journals. Her most private thoughts. Something Sammy would never have done, except that Sammy thought she was dead.

Everyone but Catherine thought she was dead after Jack came back from Abydos the first time. Not that it mattered much, because the United States Air Force hadn't exactly run an obituary notice in all the major professional journals to mark her passing. And though her life is now spent in doing things she can discuss with no one except a few -- not even all -- of her coworkers, she has an official existence. Dr. Danielle Jackson has a reason to be in Colorado Springs, a pretext for being here, although it is all a tissue of lies and tenuous half-truths.

Entertaining, in a way. She lies now, by implication, every time she walks down the street. Goes to the grocery store. Picks up her dry cleaning. Dr. Danielle Jackson, civilian consultant to something under Cheyenne Mountain. Linguist. Doing cryptographic analysis of deep space telemetry signals for a program it's better not to inquire too closely about.

If -- in her old life, her _real_ life -- she'd been able to lie so easily, so glibly, she'd be...

What?

She's never quite sure.

So many possible futures. Would she have been happy, somewhere off with Simon Gardner? A professor by now? Married? Would she have gone back to Egypt?

It doesn't matter. Saving the Earth from the _Goa'uld_ is far more important than those other unrealized futures. Than her academic reputation. Than her honor. Than her inability to compromise with the truth, because the US Air Force and the Stargate Program are more than happy to do it for her, courtesy of her cover story.

Because, of course, no one can know what she really does.

But a cover story means that, in the eyes of the world, she still exists, because if she has a cover story, _needs_ a cover story, she hasn't simply vanished. She has to be disguised. And that's how Dr. Meynard found her, as she discovers when she finds Dr. Meynard's letter in the disheveled (courtesy of Jack) pile of her unopened mail in the disarranged wreck of her apartment.

She finds it a week after it was delivered. That's three months after it was mailed. (The postal service in Mexico is more than a little notorious, and it went to Chicago first.) Her last known address.

Paul Meynard is -- _was_ \-- a member of the Kleinhouse Expedition. He wrote last October. That was about the time the police finished their investigation into the deaths of Doctors Cole and Kleinhouse. They were found lying beside something very odd inside a Mayan temple house, and Paul would like to send it to her for her opinion.

That's odd in and of itself. Mexico isn't quite as paranoid as Egypt about its cultural heritage, but antiquities are generally strongly encouraged to stay in the country. Besides, Mesoamerica isn't her field at all.

Then she takes a look at the sketches Paul has included of the object Dr. Kleinhouse and Dr. Cole found inside a secret chamber in a Mayan temple house. And then she spends the rest of the day making frantic phone calls trying to track Dr. Meynard down.

#

The object arrives at the SGC one week later. It's almost twenty feet long, five feet high, and nearly six feet across, and the thought on everybody's mind is that it might do something … unfortunate. All Dani could tell them from Paul's sketches is that she thought what he was sending might be _Goa'uld_ -related. (Egyptian hieroglyphs in a Mayan tomb? Way to bet.) So General Hammond ordered it brought not only to the SGC, but to the Gate Room. If something bad happens, they can do their best to shove it through the Stargate in a hurry.

Once it's uncrated, it looks oddly familiar. Egyptian, but not. Which is disappointing, because an actual Egyptian object in a Mayan temple would be incredibly exciting. (If only to her.) If it isn't Egyptian, though, why does she recognize it? Because she _does_ recognize it.

"I presume you have an explanation for why this is here, Dr. Jackson," General Hammond says, coming in. Not here-in-the-Gate-Room -- that was his idea -- but here in his SGC.

General Hammond regards the item with the same suspicion they all are. He's seen all the mission reports from all the teams -- photos, drawings, artifacts. It's not just her. It looks familiar to him, too. They all gather around it. Sammy, Jack, and General Hammond on one side, her on the other. As if this giant golden coffin is a bizarre alien conference table. Jack is skittering around at one end, looking as if he's trying to remember something he'd rather forget. Teal'c is prodding at the other. If this were a car -- and Teal'c knew anything about cars -- he'd be checking under the hood. From his expression, he's having a really bad day.

Sammy? Looks like she's working out a long complicated problem in her head.

"Well, Dr. Meynard was a member of the Kleinhouse Expedition," she says, answering General Hammond's question. "The only one who survived, because he wasn't at the dig site when ... whatever it was happened. Dr. Kleinhouse and his associates were killed brutally. The Mexican authorities assume it was by crypt robbers looking to steal anything in the burial vault. Like this." She gestures at the enormous golden coffin. Which -- obviously -- wasn't stolen.

She spoke extensively to Paul. She's familiar with Central America; she spent half her childhood there. By the time Paul got to the site with the authorities, the bodies were already in an advanced state of decay, but there were no sign of bullet wounds on any of them. And none of the site was disturbed, according to Meynard. Everyone was just ... dead. But the police have their theory, and won't change it.

"And who thought to send it to you?" General Hammond asks. He sounds suspicious.

"Uh, Paul Meynard, the dig's only survivor. He recognized the significance of an Egyptian sarcophagus in a Mayan temple. And, since he remembered my work in tracing cross-pollenization of ancient cultures through anomalous artifacts, he tracked me down."

Which is a polite way of saying that Dr. Paul Meynard had followed the lunatic fringe and taken a chance. She'd been so careful not to develop a reputation that would cause her to end up like Nick, but she couldn't keep herself from pointing out the blatant anomalies with which the past was riddled. Things where they should not -- could not -- be. From steam engines in Ancient Greece to Egyptian mummy cases in Han China, the historical record has been distorted and pied, filled with a madman's meddling. _Goa'uld_ meddling. She knows that now.

Suddenly Jack turns around, as if he's come to a conclusion. "I know this thing."

It's as if when he speaks, he speaks for both of them, because suddenly she knows what it is, too. Two years fall away, and she's back on Abydos. Above Abydos, really. In Ra's spaceship, as it perched upon the pyramid. "Yeah," she says reluctantly. "I recognize it, too."

"It's like that thing that was on Ra's ship that--"

"--brought me back from the dead," she finishes. Not just a coffin, an ancient _Goa'uld_ artifact, lifeless and safe. A _machine._

"Well, how could it be?" General Hammond wants to know. The idea that there are _Goa'uld_ artifacts here on Earth disturbs him. (It would disturb anybody.) Dr. Meynard said it was empty when he found it, and it was X-Rayed when it was brought here. Still empty.

"I don't know," she answers. "But if it does belong to a _Goa'uld_ , it would explain a lot. Like why there's no one in it, and why it has Egyptian hieroglyphs on it instead of Mayan."

General Hammond, of course, is thinking of it having arrived on Earth recently; that the _Goa'uld_ have found some way to come here without using the Stargate. Dani's assuming it was left here from the time the _Goa'uld_ ruled Earth. And that means that the _Goa'uld_ Empire extended much farther than just the Fertile Crescent. _How far?_ she wonders. No one in this room -- even Teal'c -- will care.

But for now she and Sammy have the sarcophagus to study. She'll translate the outside. Maybe Sammy can figure out the science. She's about to suggest to General Hammond that she go back to the dig site and see if she can find anything else when a young lieutenant enters the Gate Room. She recognizes him. Graham Simmons. He's new. She thinks he may have a crush on Sammy.

Graham says that a woman has just been arrested trying to break in to The Mountain.

Trying to get to the Stargate.

#

Sammy wants to spend some time with the sarcophagus before deciding which of the Special Labs to move it to. General Hammond and Jack go off to see the security breach. She tags along. Nobody's said not to.

How would somebody from outside know that the Stargate is here?

#

The security cells are all the way up at the top of The Mountain, near the main entrance. Graham conducts them inside.

Bunk beds, open toilet/sink. There's not a lot of difference between the security cells and the bunkrooms, actually. Except that there's a little more privacy in the security cells.

The woman who knows the Stargate is here is standing at the back of the cell, her back to them. She's wearing an oversized olive-drab military issue trench coat, which Dani bets she wasn't wearing when she walked up to the checkpoint. Her hands are secured behind her back.

Her straight shoulder-length hair is a bright unnatural shade of red.

"Ma'am, I'm General Hammond, U. S. Air Force."

"Yes?"

The woman turns as she speaks. Her voice is low and husky. Dani sees that her face is painted in the Egyptian style: eyes outlined in kohl and malachite and gold, lips a deep red. She regards General Hammond coolly.

"And you are?" General Hammond asks.

_"We_ are Hathor. You would be wise to unbind Us, and kneel before your Goddess."

_"He_ -llo," Jack says, rolling his eyes and turning toward her and General Hammond.

Jack ... doesn't exactly have a problem with women. Even women in authority, really. But let him hear a certain tone of voice from civilians, especially civilian women, and there's absolutely no doing anything with him. She's seen it before. Usually when he comes down to 18 to drive her civilian specialists crazy. But...?

_"Hathor?"_ she says.

"Yes," the woman answers.

"Have you heard of her?" Jack asks. (As if all of this might somehow be her fault.)

"Ah, well, Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of fertility, inebriation, and music."

"Sex, drugs, and rock and roll?" Jack asks, raising his eyebrows.

"In a manner of speaking, yeah," Dani says briefly. This really isn't the time or the place for Jack to start playing around. But... does this woman really think she's the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor? And even if she does... "Are the cuffs absolutely necessary?" she asks General Hammond. The woman's in a cell in the most secure facility on Earth. She's maybe Sammy's size. And the place is crawling with security.

Jack and General Hammond exchange a silent look -- Jack is still looking long-suffering -- and then General Hammond waves a hand toward the woman calling herself Hathor. Dani takes the hint, pushing past them and walking over to her. "Hathor" is heavily perfumed. Sandalwood, frankincense, cinnamon. Something else Dani can't identify. "Hathor" turns her back as Dani approaches, presenting her cuffed hands. Dani reaches out to undo the plastic restraints.

"I'm surprised they didn't chain her to the bed, too," Dani mutters darkly to herself. "What's she going to do, beat us up? Sorry about that," she adds, to the woman calling herself Hathor.

The woman turns around when she's released and Dani smiles at her, hoping this will all work out well. So often these things don't. The military is so paranoid. For a moment "Hathor's" eyes are cold, then she smiles back, rubbing her wrists. Her eyes are the most intense green Dani has ever seen.

"Thank you," she says regally. "Your efforts will not go unrewarded."

Foreign, Dani thinks. English isn't her native language. She's certain of that. But Dani's not certain what language _is_ "Hathor's" native language. Maybe she can find out. She steps back, because Jack is twitching a bit. As if he's afraid "Hathor" is about to take her hostage. "Hathor" smiles faintly, as if she knows it too.

"So, Ms. ...Hathor, would you mind telling us why exactly you were trying to get into this facility?" General Hammond asks.

"We were drawn to the _chappa'ai_ ," "Hathor" says calmly.

"' _Chappa'ai_ '," Jack says with mock cheerfulness. "That's what your monk-buddies on Chulak called the Stargate," he adds, looking at Dani.

Hardly her 'buddies', as they were out to kill all of them. Helped Apophis Choose Skaara. But Jack always takes semantic shortcuts.

"What I want to know is what makes you think it's here, ma'am," General Hammond wants to know. Still talking to "Hathor". Although what he ought to be asking is how she knows to call it the _chappa'ai_ , Dani thinks. It's apparently a general term for the Stargate. They used it on Abydos as well. It's ultimately derived from Ancient Egyptian. It means 'Eye of the Gods'.

The military is always asking the wrong question.

"We were _drawn_ to it," "Hathor" repeats, and now she sounds irritated.

"'We'?" Jack echoes, because now that "Hathor" has started to lose her temper, he's baiting her.

"Where is Ra?" "Hathor" demands, ignoring Jack and turning to her.

She opens her mouth to answer, although she's not sure what she's going to say, when General Hammond cuts her off.

"Dr. Jackson. Need to know."

It takes Dani a moment to realize what he means, and when he does, she's angry. He just assumes that the idiot civilian will burble out their most classified information to the first person who asks, as if Dani hasn't proven herself over and over in the months past. Obviously nothing she does is ever going to be enough.

"Ra is a myth. He doesn't actually exist," she says briefly.

"Miss… Hathor. What made you think this _chappa'ai_ was here?" Jack asks. Repeating General Hammond's question. That's the military way. Ask the same question over and over until you get an answer you like. As if "Hathor" hasn't already told them twice that she was _"drawn"_ to it. Aren't they listening?

"The _chappa'ai_ is what gave power to our father and our husband," "Hathor" answers.

General Hammond looks completely blank. That's Dani's cue.

"Ah, in Egyptian mythology, Hathor was both the daughter and wife of Ra. Ra was said to have corrupted her--"

_"We were not corrupted!"_ "Hathor" snaps angrily, turning to face Dani. Despite herself, Dani takes a step back.

"No, of course not, no disrespect intended," she answers soothingly. As if this were really the Hathor of legend. A goddess. She's beginning to think this woman really does believe she's Hathor.

"We are the mother of all Pharoahs," "Hathor" continues, turning back to face Jack and General Hammond again.

"Of _course_ we are," Jack drawls irritatingly, and Dani aches to slap him. He's treating this as if it were a schoolyard game, and that isn't helping at all. She knows he's made up his mind now: just another crazy woman, nothing to worry about.

Dani thinks "Hathor" is more than that.

"General?" Jack continues, motioning to General Hammond. The two of them take a step back, closer to the door. She can still hear them perfectly well, though. "Why don't _we_ call County Mental Health and see if we can find a nice little rubber room for the lady?"

Dani clenches her hands, knowing that arguing won't help. She's not even sure what she wants to say. That this woman really _is_ an ancient Egyptian goddess? They'd find her a room next to "Hathor's".

"Crazy or not, I want to know what she knows," General Hammond answers. He turns back. "Dr Jackson, talk to her. See what you can find out. But don't tell her anything she doesn't already know. I'll leave Lieutenant Simmons with you, just in case there's trouble."

Just in case she's attacked and overpowered, he means.

"Fine," she says. It's not as if she has any choice in the matter.

Jack and General Hammond turn to leave.

"You with the crown of marble!" "Hathor" says imperiously.

Jack and General Hammond both stop.

"She, ah, might mean you, sir," Jack says blandly.

"You are the ruler here?" Hathor asks.

General Hammond turns back. "Yes, ma'am."

"May we take your hand?"

"Why?" General Hammond asks suspiciously.

"We wish to kiss it. To bless you with fertility and joy."

General Hammond looks as if he's not sure how to take this. And actually, it should go the other way around. He should be the one kissing Hathor. Dani's not going to bring that up at the moment, though.

"Well, you can't pass that up, sir," Jack says, smirking. He's getting way too much fun out of all this.

"Oh yes I can," General Hammond says crisply. He turns away and raps at the door. Dani hears the clink of keys as the airman opens it from the outside. He and Jack leave.

The cell seems much larger with them gone. She looks at Graham. "Go get us some coffee, would you?"

"Well, I, ah, Dr. Jackson, I don't think I'm really supposed to..."

She sighs. Of course he's not supposed to leave her alone with the maybe-not-so-crazy woman. "All right then. Tell the airman to get us some coffee. Just get the coffee."

She turns back to Hathor as Graham moves over to the door and raps at it again. Hathor's taken off the trench coat. Dani stares. Hathor is wearing a ... costume ... underneath it, and suddenly Dani understands why the trench coat was there in the first place, because what she is wearing underneath the trench coat is jeweled and tight and coppery and glitters and there isn't very much of it. A tight bodice, very low, and a long narrow silky skirt slit all the way up to one hip. Dani feels faintly disappointed, because it _isn't_ Egyptian. Not exactly. Quotes a number of Egyptian motifs, though.

"I need to ask you some questions," she says with a sigh.

Hathor smiles again. "And then, will you answer Ours?"

"I can't tell you very much," Dani says reluctantly.

"We have heard the instructions your master gave you. But surely, you can provide Us with the gift of your name?"

"Oh. That. I'm Dr. Danielle Jackson."

"And are you a priestess here, Doctor Danielle Jackson?"

Dani frowns. Teal'c asked her that, too. Apparently the _Goa'uld_ Empire isn't an equal-opportunity employer. She wonders why she's thinking that, because she's pretty sure Hathor isn't Jaffa.

"Sort of. Please call me Dani. You said you were 'drawn to' the _chappa'ai_. Where did you come from?"

"We do not know the name of the land. Ra imprisoned Us in the sarcophagus at Iunu, but We did not awaken there. We traveled for many days, seeking the _chappa'ai_. We feared the vengeance of Ra, but We have seen no sign of him in this land."

"Ra is a myth," she says again. And Iunu is the ancient name for Heliopolis. It's an important ritual site in ancient Egypt near the mouth of the Nile, sacred to Ra, but few people know the older name for it. "Hathor's" pronunciation is perfect. Damn General Hammond.

"You know of Ra," "Hathor" says, gazing into her eyes.

"I study ancient cultures," Dani says. "I'm familiar with all the gods of Ancient Egypt."

"Then you know that Ra ruled harshly, and of how We rose up against him to challenge his rule over the Two Lands. But his armies were greater than Ours, and We were betrayed. Even so, he feared to kill Us, choosing instead to imprison Us for all eternity."

That's not how the story Dani learned in school goes. But in college they never taught that Ra was a _Goa'uld_ , either.

"So you're saying you were alive in Ancient Egypt?" she asks cautiously.

"We came from the stars with Ra," Hathor says.

_She's a Goa'uld?_ Dani takes a step back.

"Long ago, We came to help the people of the Two Lands," Hathor continues. "They were primitive creatures, starving and dying, consumed by sickness. It was ... very long ago. We taught them to build cities, to grow crops to feed themselves. For centuries, there was peace and plenty for all. Do not your studies tell you of a time when men and gods lived together in a Golden Time?"

The Golden Age. All cultures have legends of a Golden Age. She nods, reluctantly. But she's backed up against the door by now, next to Graham. He doesn't understand what Hathor has just told her.

"But Ra was old," Hathor says. "He became spiteful and cruel. He began to harm those he had once protected. His excesses became terrible. We could not let it go on."

"So... you... fought Ra?" She swallows hard. Her mouth is dry. Is Hathor saying that all _Goa'uld_ aren't evil?

"We could not let him harm Our people. But We failed," Hathor says sadly, bowing her head.

"He imprisoned you in a sarcophagus."

It must be the one the Kleinhouse Expedition found. Empty, surrounded by dead bodies. Who -- or what -- killed them? Some natural booby-trap on the sarcophagus? Placed there by Ra so that no one could free Hathor? There were over a hundred people on the Kleinhouse dig.

There's a knock on the door and she jumps. But it's only the airman returning with the coffee she asked for. She takes two cups and walks over to Hathor. She's afraid, but she's curious, too. The woman has said she fought against Ra, and the ancient myths all say that Hathor was a friend of Mankind.

"I don't know if you like coffee, but everybody drinks it here, so..."

Hathor takes one of the cups. They're both the same; too much cream and sugar. Military standard issue coffee.

"Thank you. You are kind. So few here have been kind. We still fear Ra."

"Believe me, you have _nothing_ to fear from Ra," Dani says.

"You speak as if you are certain."

She is. Ra is dead. She and Jack killed him. But she's not supposed to say so. She drinks her coffee, wondering what to do now. Hathor has said she's a _Goa'uld_. What else could she mean when she said that she came from the stars with Ra?

But she's said she's a _good Goa'uld_. Dani supposes such things could exist.

Imprisoned by Ra for attempting to rebel against him.

Then how did the members of the Kleinhouse Expedition die?

She needs more information.

The forensic report is down in her office. And there might be something about Hathor in the information they brought back from Abydos. Something to check this woman's story. Because the myths as they're recorded on Earth don't tell the whole truth.

"I… This is all… There's something I have to do," she says, walking back and setting her cup down on the desk. "Could you wait here with Lieutenant Simmons? I won't be long."

"Very well," Hathor says, inclining her head like a queen dismissing a subject. "We will look forward to your return ... Dani."

#

Carter's decided where she wants to move the sarcophagus to, but they won't be able to do it until the end of the day. She explained why, but he wasn't listening. General Hammond was. That's his job. Listening.

O'Neill's not sure he likes leaving Indy alone with the crazy woman in the trench coat, but he's pretty sure Indy can hold her own. He's just not sure she can keep her mouth shut. O'Neill doesn't really see why they need to talk to the crazy woman at all.

"Do we really think anyone is going to believe that woman if she goes around blabbing about a Star... Gate," O'Neill asks, making air quotes to emphasize the idiocy of the idea. The Stargate sounds pretty weird to him, too, and he walks through it once or twice a week. "I mean, I have a hard time believing this woman down in Old Town who walks around talking about all these little ... devil people ... who live in her hair. Even though she could use a little conditioner."

Please let Indy keep her mouth shut and stick to getting the answers General Hammond wants. And not do what she usually does and ... _explain_ things.

"Is not the question 'how does she know of the Stargate?'" Teal'c asks.

Yeah, that's the real question. Trust Teal'c to bring it up.

"When Dr. Jackson figures that out, let me know," General Hammond says. "I'll be in my office."

#

When Dani gets back to the holding cell, it's empty.

_"Where did they go?"_ she demands of the nearest airman. Still on guard, guarding nothing. Useful. Typical military.

"Ah, Lt. Simmons took the prisoner down into the facility, Dr. Jackson. He said General Hammond wanted to see her."

"He-- I-- _What? When?"_

"About fifteen minutes ago, ma'am." The airman sounds puzzled. She runs.

When she gets to the General's office, the door is locked. It's never locked. She goes around and tries the other door, the one in the Briefing Room. Also locked. But through the window she can see that Hathor is in there with General Hammond and Graham. General Hammond is smiling. So is Graham. She hammers on the door until General Hammond gestures for Graham to open it. She pushes past him and barges inside.

"Graham, what the--"

"Ah, Dr. Jackson. Ms. Hathor was just telling me how helpful you've been. I've told her how you and Colonel O'Neill killed Ra. She's very grateful," General Hammond says. He's positively beaming.

"She... I... You _told_ her?" When he didn't want her to tell Hathor the same thing less than an hour ago?

General Hammond's smile widens. "No reason not to share information with our new ally. Come along, Dr. Jackson. It's time to brief the rest of SG-1."

She stares at Graham. He smiles encouragingly. What's going on? She turns and walks out into the Briefing Room. Hathor follows. Jack, Sammy, and Teal'c are just coming in. They stop at the sight of Hathor, confused and wary, though Jack is the only one who's seen her before. And not without her trench coat.

"Sit down, SG-1," General Hammond says.

Cautiously, they all take their seats. Graham sits down too. Hathor remains standing. She stands behind General Hammond. She has her hand on his shoulder. Teal'c is staring at Hathor. It's hard for her to get a clear read on him most of the time (body language is too different) but right now, Dani would almost be willing to say Teal'c looks ... scared.

She didn't think anything could scare Teal'c.

"Some of you have already met her, but I'd like to introduce the rest of you to our newest ally. Hathor," General Hammond says.

"She's a _Goa'uld_ ," Dani blurts out.

"What?" Sammy says. She only sounds surprised.

" _How_ is she a _Goa'uld_?" That's Jack. He sounds more indignant than anything else, because General Hammond is sitting right here, and General Hammond doesn't look worried at all.

"She did not come through the Stargate," Teal'c says.

Dani sighs, just a little, because she's always the one who has to explain, and right now she thinks she only has half the story. "She's been imprisoned in a sarcophagus -- on Earth -- for over two thousand years. You see--"

Jack raises his eyebrows. "Is mental illness contagious?"

Dani grits her teeth. "She's Hathor. The _Goa'uld_ who took on the _persona_ of Hathor here on Earth."

Hathor smiles at her, and Dani's sure she's right about that.

"Back up," Sammy says, and her voice is tight. "Did you say she's a _Goa'uld_?"

"Yes," General Hammond says genially. "She's come here to ally herself with us. She intends to help us defeat Apophis and protect us from the rest of the _Goa'uld_."

"And you believe her, sir?" Sammy's voice rises in disbelief.

"General!" Jack says sharply.

"General Hammond, I have served the _Goa'uld_ all my life. I have yet to meet a good one," Teal'c says. His voice sounds strained.

"Maybe that's because you served the wrong one," General Hammond says.

"General!" Jack says again, getting to his feet.

"Colonel, that's enough," General Hammond says sharply. He's staring at Jack, and Jack's staring back. Jack doesn't believe in good _Goa'uld_ , and neither does Teal'c. Dani isn't sure what she believes. Hathor said she fought against Ra. Sammy just looks unhappy. And worried.

"We would appreciate a drink from your water," Hathor says, gazing at General Hammond.

"Colonel?" General Hammond says meaningfully.

"General?" Jack says.

They're probably going to go on like this all day. _Colonel? General? General? Colonel?_ And underneath the surface it's all a fight for dominance. General Hammond should win; he outranks Jack. But she's seen Jack win these cryptic fights before.

"Colonel, water for the lady."

This time, though, Jack backs down. He picks up a glass from the table and pours water, then goes over to Hathor. She steps around the General's chair to come closer to him. Dani twitches, just a little. She's not sure why.

Jack holds out the glass, but Hathor doesn't take it. "You are the one who is responsible for destroying the vile one, Ra," she says, stepping even closer.

"I would be the one," Jack answers. He sounds uncomfortable.

"For you, We will forever hold a special place, here." Hathor takes his other hand -- the one not holding the glass -- and places it on her chest. He's touching her _skin._ He looks even more uncomfortable than he did that time Sammy got naked.

"Well, that's very special. Thank you," he says awkwardly.

She lets go of him, and Dani thinks he'll pull away, but he doesn't. He leaves his hand where it is, touching her. Suddenly he seems to realize what he's doing, but when he tries to take his hand away Hathor catches it and raises his hand to her mouth.

She kisses it.

Jack looks like he's having a stroke. He actually staggers when she finally lets him go. He comes back and sits down -- still holding the glass -- but Teal'c is getting up now, going to loom over Hathor.

"Jack?" she whispers, when he's beside her again. He just shakes his head silently. He smells of Hathor's perfume.

"She is a _Goa'uld_ ," Teal'c announces to the room at large.

Yeah, they've all got that.

"Jaffa," Hathor answers, and her voice is cold. "In service to Apophis, the Serpent, vile creature that he is."

"I am no longer in service to Apophis," Teal'c answers.

"We despise all that Ra, Apophis, and their kind do and believe," Hathor says.

"It's all right. So does Teal'c," Jack says. Dani looks at him in surprise. He's smiling now. Just a little.

"Then your enemy is Our enemy. Together, we can defeat them," Hathor says to Teal'c.

"I will serve no _Goa'uld_ ," Teal'c answers flatly. Hathor takes Teal'c's hand and raises it to her lips -- just the way she did Jack's. He pulls it away and glares at her.

"All right, then," General Hammond says, smiling. "Let's make the lady comfortable, and welcome her to Earth. Dr. Jackson--"

"General-- Sir-- I have a problem with this," Sammy interrupts, getting to her feet.

"Hathor, this is Captain Carter," Jack says lazily, waving a hand in Sammy's direction. Dani blinks, wondering if everybody's gone crazy here today, or if it's just her.

Sammy walks over to Hathor. Hathor regards her expressionlessly. "You are an exceedingly beautiful woman," Hathor says. She doesn't really sound pleased. And come on. 'Exceedingly beautiful?' This is _Sammy_ they're talking about. Sammy is pretty, and could date anybody in The Mountain -- and probably out of it -- that she wanted, but _Hathor_ is the one who is beautiful.

"Thank you," Sammy says awkwardly. "So are you." Her eyes flick to General Hammond, then back to Hathor, but she doesn't move, and the two of them are facing off almost the way Jack and General Hammond were a few minutes ago. "General Hammond, I believe we should keep Miss… _Hathor_ under house arrest until we can better assess--"

"Don't be impolite, Captain," General Hammond interrupts. Now he sounds irritable.

Sammy turns to the General, looking stunned. "'Impolite?' Sir? She's a _Goa'uld_."

"She is a guest at this facility, Captain," the General answers, and there's a warning note in his voice now, one Dani has no difficulty at all in interpreting. He's made up his mind and does not intend anyone to argue with him. She glances back at Jack. A few minutes ago he was almost at General Hammond's throat. Not now.

"Sir, this is crazy!" Sammy says in disbelief. "It doesn't make any sense! Colonel O'Neill--"

Sammy turns to Jack, and Dani knows that this is wrong. Dani doesn't know that much about the military, but she does know that Sammy shouldn't be trying to get a second opinion this way. Especially from someone whom General Hammond outranks.

General Hammond knows it too. _"I_ am in command of this facility, Captain Carter, not Colonel O'Neill." General Hammond pushes himself to his feet and rounds the table, not quite at a run, to confront Sammy face to face. _"Is that understood?"_ He's angry now, and Sammy flinches. Over Sammy's shoulder, Dani sees Hathor smile in faint satisfaction.

"But, sir--" Sammy says.

"Understood?" General Hammond barks.

"Well, sir, with respect, it just seems that you're not behaving ... in the best interests of this command."

"Are you questioning my orders, Captain?" General Hammond demands.

Sammy swallows hard, but she doesn't back down. "Yes, sir, I guess I am." She turns to Jack. "Colonel O'Neill, are you going to back me up on this?"

Dani glances sideways at Jack.

"Yes, Captain," he says. He takes a sip of water from the glass in front of him. It's the glass of water he got for Hathor. She didn't actually want it. "If I see that there's a problem," he adds.

Sammy's mouth drops open in shock. So does Dani's. Jack has always backed both of them. No matter what? Just about.

"Thank you, Colonel," General Hammond says, sounding satisfied.

This doesn't make sense. She's missing something. As soon as Jack agrees with General Hammond, General Hammond seems to lose interest in Sammy. As if Jack -- Jack _agreeing_ with him -- was more important than Sammy's submission.

Sammy looks at her. Dani doesn't know what to think and she knows it shows on her face.

"Now, if you'll follow me, ma'am, I would be honored to give you a tour of our facility," General Hammond says. "Dr. Jackson, we may need you later. Captain Carter, I'm sure you have some work to do. And while you're doing it, you might want to think very hard about your attitude, and about your fitness to continue to serve here at Stargate Command."

"Yes, General," Sammy says woodenly. She's standing at attention, her face expressionless.

General Hammond and Hathor leave. Jack and Graham follow.

#

"Sammy--" she says, when the three of them are alone.

Sammy looks at her. Her eyes are hurt, but her face is expressionless. Military.

"Maybe…" Dani says. _Maybe Hathor is telling the truth. I hope so. If she isn't, why would Jack trust her?_

"I have work to do," Sammy says, her face set. Dani stares after her as she walks out. She looks at Teal'c.

"Jack believed her," she says helplessly.

Teal'c inclines his head. "I have never met a good _Goa'uld_ ," he repeats.

But Jack believed Hathor. And so did General Hammond.

"I..." Dani says. "I'm going to go ... see. Hathor said she rebelled against Ra. If she did, maybe I can find some ... proof." She hasn't had time to check everything yet.

"The _Goa'uld_ often make war upon one another, Danielle Jackson," Teal'c says.

"It's all I've got, Teal'c," she answers forlornly.

#

Her office ought to feel like a safe retreat, but it doesn't. Too much doesn't make sense. She studied Hathor in school, but now she goes back and does more digging, studying from the viewpoint of all she now knows about the true history of Earth. In a late addition to her myth in Egypt, Hathor is sent by Ra to destroy Mankind. He changes his mind, but they become enemies. So that much of Hathor's story is borne out by the myth as it exists on Earth. But Teal'c says that the _Goa'uld_ fight with each other all the time, though, and he'd know. Hours pass as Dani works.

Jack said 'sex, drugs, and rock and roll.'

Pretty much.

There's a theory that all the ancient Love Goddesses of the Fertile Crescent are derived from a single ancient source, a single prehistoric Love Goddess that inspired all the rest. It's a theory long-discredited, along with the Global Matriarchy and the Lost Continent of Atlantis, but she's starting to suspect, more and more, that these fringe theories contain more than a grain of truth. UFOs -- in the classic sense -- are real, after all. Thus, Hathor is identified with Aphrodite of Greece, Ishtar of Babylon, Inanna of Sumeria, Astarte of Syria, Venus of Rome...

Loved in every culture in which she appears. Feared in some. In Babylonian and Sumerian mythology she has a shadow-twin: Allartu or Ereshkigal, who is Queen of Hell.

What worries Dani is that all of the stories about all of the Love Goddesses say they have magical power over both men and gods. This Ultimate Love Goddess -- whatever her name -- was able to seduce her followers into doing anything for her. Men and gods were both described as being 'drunk with her presence.'

She's never seen General Hammond drunk. She's seen Jack drink, of course, but she's not sure she's ever seen him drunk. How could Hathor have done anything to him? Dani was watching her the entire time.

Venus had a magic girdle that enslaved men and gods.

Didn't they _search_ the woman before they brought her down?

She calls Jack's office, and gets no answer. Sammy's not in her lab.

Dani goes looking. There are a lot more people in the halls than usual. Just sort of standing around. They all stop and stare at her when she walks by. After she gets around one corner, she thinks she hears somebody behind her whistle, but she's not quite sure. She finds Sammy with Janet in Janet's office. Both of them look vaguely … harassed.

"Hey, guys," she says. "Are things weird around here today, or is it just me?"

"Are you all right?" Sammy says. "I just called your office, and you weren't there."

"Here," she explains. "I've been doing some research."

"So have I," Janet says grimly.

It's not just her, Janet and Sammy both tell her. All the men on Base are acting ... funny. That probably _was_ a wolf-whistle she heard in the corridor.

"'Drunk with her presence,'" Sammy says sourly, when Dani finishes explaining about Love Goddesses in Ancient History.

"Well, that'd be how I'd describe our boys," Janet says.

"She... _did_ something to them?" Dani asks incredulously.

"Yeah," Sammy says in disgust. "Now, I figure she's using some form of _Goa'uld_ technology. Any ideas?"

"Jack was fine in the Briefing Room," Dani says. "And then he ... wasn't. She ... touched him." She made _him_ touch _her_ , to be perfectly accurate.

Janet looks at both of them. Sammy nods, confirming what Dani's just said.

"In that case, since neither of you saw any kind of device, my guess is that it would have to be some kind of chemical we've never seen. A... A sort of super-pheromone combined with something like Sodium Pentothal, probably with airborne delivery," Janet says.

"Great," Sammy says in disgust. "How do we reverse it?"

Janet just stares at her for a moment. "Sam, it ... may not be reversible. And if it is, finding out how may take years."

"Not reversible." Is Janet saying they've already lost? Dani feels sick.

"We probably don't even have _days_ before this _Goa'uld_ does whatever she's trying to do," Sammy says, sounding frustrated.

"So what do you suggest, Sam?" Janet asks.

"I suggest we neutralize her," Sammy says flatly.

As in _kill?_ What if killing Hathor means killing everyone she's ... afflicted? There's got to be another way.

"Look," Dani says. "I know this isn't a-- a-- a-- _spell._ But the ancient cultures that came into contact with the Love Goddess archetype -- Hathor -- would have seen it in those terms. The Girdle of Venus. Ishtar's Mirror. Their accounts will talk about how it works, and maybe how to, um, come up with an antidote. Maybe that will give you a clue. If we can just get rid of the power she's got over Jack, and General Hammond, and--"

Janet smiles and pats her hand. "Why don't you see what you can find, hon? And try to stay out of trouble."

Dani makes a face. Everyone is always telling her that. And then they hand her a gun and send her through the Stargate.

"Right," Sammy says. "Meanwhile, I'll get to work on Plan B. It's going to take me a little while to set up, but I'll need your help when we get going."

Dani nods. She won't let Sammy and Janet down. "You know where to find me," she says, sighing.

She hurries back to her office, keeping her head down and taking different corridors. She doesn't see as many people, and they don't seem to be paying any attention to her this time. But she's worried. What does Hathor want?

If Hathor _does_ have some kind of power to enthrall them, why didn't she use it on her and Sammy too? Why just on Jack, Graham, and General Hammond? Why do something like that at all, instead of just trying to kill them? Ra didn't. Apophis didn't. The _Goa'uld_ that tried to take over Kawalsky didn't.

She's barely settled to her work again when her door opens. She thinks it's Sammy and Janet, come to whisk her off to Plan B, but it isn't. It's two airmen she doesn't know.

"Hathor has summoned you, Dr. Jackson," one of them says.

"I, um, this really isn't a good time," she says.

"She'd like to see you right now," the other one says.

She sighs and gets to her feet. General Hammond has ordered her to cooperate. Hathor has always been willing to talk to her before. Maybe she can get some information that will help Sammy and Janet.

#

General Hammond has given Hathor A3 Guest Quarters, the best they have. One of the airmen opens the door. They bring Dani inside. Hathor's there. Jack's there, too. He's half-naked. The room reeks of Hathor's perfume.

"Jack?" she says uncertainly. He doesn't react.

Hathor is stroking him as if he were some kind of pet. There's a ribbon device on her hand now. A _Goa'uld_ weapon. She no longer needs to hide what she is.

_Goa'uld_.

_"Get your hands off him!"_ She starts forward, but the airmen grab her, dragging her back.

Hathor kisses Jack, breathing into his open mouth. Jack sways on his feet, eyes closing.

_No._

"Let him _go_!" She struggles, but it's useless; the men holding her are stronger than she is. _"Leave him alone!"_

"We are the Queen of the Gods," Hathor says, turning her head to look at Dani. "We are the Mother of all Gods. From Us, all others come." Hathor smiles, and her eyes flash with _Goa'uld_ luminescence. "There is much We require from him. And from you. Do you not wonder whence the children come? We will show you."

_Mother of the Gods ... children..._ " _Goa'uld_ … larvae?" Dani stammers. The _Goa'uld_ come from her?

"Yes. The children come from Us and from others like Us. But We must first have the Code of Life from the species intended as the host. We do so enjoy the method of procuring the Code in your species..." Hathor says, smiling.

Code of Life. DNA. Hathor is like a Queen Bee. Dani feels as if she's seeing things she wasn't meant to see -- if there were such things. Things so terrible the mere sight of them can kill. The ancient texts she's translated all her life speak of such horrors as if they were real, and for the first time Dani understands what it's like to believe in such things. But if she can keep Hathor talking, maybe Hathor will leave Jack alone.

"I don't understand. You... You're... Why do you need him?"

"In order to ensure compatibility for the _Goa'uld_ child and the host." Hathor turns back to Jack, and now her hands are on his belt. She's unbuckling it.

Dani hears him moan. She stares at the rug -- nice, safe, royal blue rug; she's always liked blue, but she thinks she'll hate it now -- and sees that Jack's feet are bare. There's a profound wrongness to that; she wants to tear herself loose from the airmen and go find his boots for him. Jack shouldn't be barefoot. Not here.

_"Look at him!"_ Hathor commands.

The airmen wrench her shoulders back and slam her to her knees so hard her head automatically snaps back. One of them grabs a fistful of her hair, forcing her to keep her head up.

Jack is naked. Dani bites her lip so hard she draws blood.

Hathor runs her hand down Jack's body. He gasps and shudders. Dani tastes blood. Hathor gazes down into her eyes and smiles.

"If you close your eyes, We will put his out," the _Goa'uld_ Queen says.

Dani believes her.

Hathor leads Jack to the bed. She pushes him backward and he lies down. His skin is gleaming with sweat. He licks his lips, looking up at Hathor. Hathor stands beside the bed, removing her clothes. Jack stares up at her. Hungry. Expectant. Waiting.

Dani never wanted to see this.

Hathor looks over her shoulder at Dani again, a small feral smile on her scarlet lips, and all Dani can think in the last instants before Hathor kneels on the bed and straddles Jack is that it isn't _fair._ She's the one who took Hathor's cuffs off, and brought her coffee. Why is Hathor doing this to her? To _them?_

She doesn't dare try to look away.

She can't move.

Jack cries out, arching up beneath Hathor's body as the _Goa'uld_ Queen grinds her hips down, and Dani pulls forward, because she has to feel something and she thinks the pain in her shoulders may be the only thing that will keep her sane. She doesn't dare close her eyes, and keeping them open is taking all her will. Blood fills her mouth. Her eyes burn. The room is filled with the scent of sex and sweat; the sounds Jack is making -- a language of lust and pain and need that she doesn't want to translate -- and all the perfumes of Egypt. The smell is gagging her and Dani struggles not to breathe.

But then it's over, finally, and Hathor rises languidly from the bed -- Dani can see the snake beneath the skin in every movement -- and dresses herself again. She never even took off her jewelry.

Dani closes her eyes, blinking hard, swallowing blood and bile. She opens her eyes again quickly when she hears the rustle of fabric. Hathor is moving. The airmen lift her to her feet. She staggers at the change in position, the pain in her shoulders makes her head swim. She's sure Hathor will kill her now, but Hathor only reaches out and strokes her cheek. The metal fingercaps on the ribbon device are cool on Dani's skin. The touch is horrifyingly gentle, and bile rises in Dani's throat again. Hathor's scent is pungent and intense, like decay.

"We promised you a reward for helping Us, did We not?" Hathor says. Dani's eyes widen in shock. This? This was a _reward?_ Not even the _Goa'uld_ are that crazy.

Hathor leans forward and kisses her lightly upon her bloody bitten lips. When she pulls back, Dani sees her own blood on Hathor's mouth.

"Now We have shared him in Our bed, and We have made him cry out for your pleasure. And soon you will become a part of him forever, as We bind him in service to Us for all eternity."

"What? I-- I don't--"

"Now the slayer of Ra shall become the first of Our new Jaffa. And you shall provide Our Jaffa's _Goa'uld_ child a comfortable bed." Hathor says. Gloating. "You would wish to do this for him."

Hathor reaches down and rips open the waistband of Dani's pants. Just ... tears. Her belt comes apart as if it were paper and her fly-buttons make a short staccato patter as they shear away. She feels air against her skin. Her pants slide, but she's not quite naked. (Not that it would really matter.) The jewels on the _Goa'uld_ ribbon device glow brightly. She struggles -- wildly, uselessly -- not knowing what's to come but knowing it will be bad.

Hathor smiles, reaching forward to plunge her hand into Dani's abdomen. The _Goa'uld_ Queen's fingers sink through her flesh as if it were smoke and Dani wails in shock and surprise. She wasn't expecting this. It's a violation worse than being hit.

At first all she feels is heat, the little sister of pain. Then pain, as Hathor gropes around inside her.

_What is she doing what is she doing what is she doing--_

Hathor's fingers close. She withdraws her hand. Tearing.

The skin of Dani's abdomen is still unmarked. The back of Hathor's hand is clean at first, but she's holding something now, and blood drools between her fingers.

"We thank you for this gift you make to Our child," Hathor says. She puts what she holds in her mouth. Swallows it whole, like a snake with a mouse. There's more blood on her mouth, and now she licks her lips clean.

Dani's still struggling to believe in what she's just seen. It seems like a magician's trick. Unreal. She's trying to make sense of what Hathor has just told her: how can she turn Jack into a Jaffa--

Then the real pain strikes, dull and sharp at once, as violated muscles cramp and spasm. It's so bad there's no way to be brave, so bad she can't even scream, just make a gasping choking sound of disbelief as she tries to breathe. She can feel the wetness of blood begin to trickle between her thighs.

The men holding her let go and she doesn't feel as if she falls, she feels like the floor comes up and hits her. She curls around the pain, trying to crush it away, but it keeps getting worse, and there's so much blood, thin and gushing and messy. She crams her hands into her groin, but that won't stop the bleeding; the damage is too far inside, and every time she takes a breath, it's like knives.

Her hands are covered in blood.

She couldn't move now if her life depended on it.

Hathor laughs.

#

Sammy's all-female strikeforce comes to the A3 looking for Hathor -- though she's gone by now, taking Jack and the two airmen with her -- and Janet's with them. That's what saves Dani's life. Janet does the operation under a local, calling it meatball surgery and looking as if she wants to cry, because Janet is a fine surgeon and hates cutting corners like she hates hell and death.

But there's no time.

Janet hangs blood and saline and antibiotics and gives Dani a morphine pump she doesn't want to use and a Beretta neither of them is sure she'll be able to use. Wheels her gurney into a linen closet where they both hope no one will find her, and goes off to help Sammy save the world.

#

She's cold. She's thirsty. She hurts.

It's so quiet.

Janet said not to move unless she has to. Dani holds very still, staring at the bare light bulb over her head and trying not to breathe. She clutches the gun and wonders who she's going to use it on. The first person who comes through that door? Herself?

Hathor has turned Jack into a Jaffa. Has used _her_ to turn him into a Jaffa. Has used him to make more _Goa'uld_.

She waits.

#

When the door opens, it's Janet who comes in. Her clothes are torn and her face is dirty. Her arm is hanging limply at her side. She takes the Beretta from Dani's hands one-handed. Dani's glad to give up the gun. She doesn't know if she could have fired. Even if it had been Jack.

Especially then.

Janet fumbles for the button on the morphine pump and presses it. Dani feels warmth and heaviness. The pain recedes, but doesn't go away completely.

"Janet?"

"We've got Colonel O'Neill on our side now," Janet says. She tries to smile, but Dani can tell she's hurt and scared.

"He's all right?" The morphine in her bloodstream makes everything seem unreal now.

"He's fine. Don't talk now, okay?"

The door opens again, and it's Teal'c. He's carrying a bundle of medical supplies. His face is seared, and there's blood on one arm.

"Teal'c's on our side," Janet says quickly.

By this point, Dani doesn't really care. Teal'c straps up Janet's arm. Janet cleans up his burns.

"I'm sorry, Dani, we still have to wait," Janet says. She knows that Janet wants to get her back into the operating room but Janet says the base isn't secure yet. Janet can't get a medical team until the base is secure.

Teal'c sits down beside Dani and takes her hand.

"You were right," she tells him. Her mouth is swollen and her voice is slurred. Her tongue feels thick. Janet says her mouth needs stitches. "You were right."

There _are_ no good _Goa'uld_.

She's not sure how much more time passes before the door opens again. Teal'c gets to his feet, but it's Sammy. Sammy comes over to the gurney and puts her arms around Dani.

"Dani, I'm so sorry. She got away."

"Hath-- Hathor?" She's only half-conscious. It's hard to concentrate. Every time her eyes close, though, she panics and forces them open again. As if Hathor were still here.

"Yes. But everything's back to normal. We're okay. We won," Sammy says.

"Jack?"

"Colonel O'Neill was a Jaffa for a while, but he's all right now."

Hathor got away.

"All right," Janet says, getting to her feet. "I'm going to get things started out there. Don't go anywhere, okay?"

It's a joke, Dani knows -- gallows humor -- but nothing's funny now. All she wants is to stop hurting and be warm again.

And for today to never have happened.

#

When she wakes up later, she feels well enough to feel bad. She still aches, but it's bearable. She's weak, but she nearly bled to death. She should be better in a week or so. Janet comes to see her as soon as she's awake. Janet tells her she's been asleep a day and a half.

General Hammond comes while Janet is there. It's awkward. He doesn't exactly apologize, she doesn't exactly forgive him. Hard, when you neither of you wants to mention names or facts. How could any of them have done anything different?

He tells her to get well soon. She tells him she's fine.

Stitches in her mouth.

A nurse brings a tray. She's in the Main Ward, and apparently it's breakfast time. She forces herself to eat, though the food is soft and tasteless -- all she's allowed -- and there's no coffee. Her mind feels as bruised as her body. Janet sits with her for a while, until she's called away. When she leaves, Dani stares at the ceiling. Janet has suggested counseling. For her loss. Bereavement. Mutilation.

For what Hathor did.

She'd never thought about having children, in the sense of planning to have them or not to have them. She and Simon had barely gotten to the point of talking about marriage. On Abydos, children were inevitable. Expected. Welcomed. The question there wasn't whether she'd have children, but whose children she'd have. She would, she thinks, have waited for Skaara. She and Sha're would have raised his children together.

Sha're is dead and Skaara is a prisoner of the _Goa'uld_. The same creatures who have -- through Hathor -- taken all choices from her, forever. Choices she wasn't ready to make. Might never have actually been ready to make. She can't imagine marrying. Her work is too important. It consumes her. It wouldn't be fair. She can't imagine not being fair to a child.

No choices now.

Blood on Hathor's mouth.

Blood on hers.

She rings for an orderly and asks for something to put her to sleep.

For the pain.

#

When she wakes up again, Sammy's there, and Dani finally finds out the details of what happened. She wants to know. Facts will build a wall. They always have. Sammy tells her that after Janet hid her in the closet, they went on to attack Hathor, who'd begun to ... spawn. Unfortunately the men protected her, and the women -- at least they had Teal'c on their side, too -- were taken prisoner, since the alternative was gunning down Jack, General Hammond, and most of the men on the base. But Janet had apparently been right about the basis of Hathor's control over the men. It was a sex-linked chemical that worked only on men, and (according to Janet) made them ... libidinous. They were able to break out again (Sammy's vague on the details, but Dani knows she can get them from Janet later).

By that time Hathor had turned Jack into a Jaffa, but he hadn't been implanted, and that meant he was going to die, just like Rya'c nearly had: without a _prim'ta_ , a Jaffa quickly dies for lack of an immune system. But Hathor's sarcophagus was still in the Gate Room. They put Jack in it. Not only did it de-Jaffa him, it broke Hathor's control over him. There was a fight there that destroyed the sarcophagus. That's how Janet and Teal'c were injured. After that, Jack was able to direct Sammy and the others to a cache of tranquillizer rifles to take down the rest of Hathor's victims with non-lethal force. When Hathor realized her attempt to make the SGC into her ... nest ... had failed, she fled through the Stargate. The moment she stepped through, her control over the men was broken. None of them remembers anything that happened between the moment Hathor first ... ensnared ... them and the moment she stepped through the Stargate. Graham, Sammy says, nearly died in the fire, but they managed to get him out in time.

Jack is human again. Everything Hathor did to him is gone. Erased by the sarcophagus as if it never happened.

Good.

"So Colonel O'Neill really doesn't remember anything that happened after General Hammond ordered him to bring Hathor a glass of water in the briefing room," Sammy says, sounding indignant and relieved. "And General Hammond doesn't remember anything after Lieutenant Simmons brought Hathor down to his office. And so on."

"Good."

"What about you?" Sammy asks.

"What do I remember?" Dani asks, and her voice wavers a bit.

Jack in Hathor's bed.

Sammy takes a deep breath. "Teal'c said that he thinks the _Goa'uld_ Queens need to ... sample ... DNA from the race they intend to use as hosts for their ... young. From the, ah, condition of her quarters, we're, um, pretty sure she did that here."

Dani does her best to look blank. The drugs help.

"Did you see anyone with her?" Sammy asks.

"Having sex?" Dani asks. "No. I'm sure I'd remember that."

She'll always remember that. And she has no intention of telling. She's not completely sure why. She just doesn't want Jack, doesn't want anyone, to know she ... saw ... him that way. She supposes the SGC must know what he did. But that's different. So she needs a story now. One that will fit. One she can stick to.

"Two airmen came to my office. They took me to the A3. Hathor was there. Jack was there. Hathor ripped out my insides. End of story."

Sammy shudders and squeezes her hand. "You're going to be okay," Sammy says.

She will. She _has_ to be. She isn't dead, and so everything that happened is something she can forget, and pretend it never happened.

She wants to forget.

Desperately.

Hathor's face.

Hathor's laugh.

Hathor's kiss.

#

Another half day, and Jack comes to see her. Again, actually. He's been here before, but she was asleep.

It's nearly unbearable. When she sees him, she thinks of him and Hathor together. She doesn't know what the image makes her want, but she wants it so much that it makes her sick. At least Jack doesn't remember anything about what happened to him.

That's good.

#

He doesn't know what the _Goa'uld_ did to Indy--

No, scratch that. He knows in exact clinical terms what it did. He's read Frasier's report. He knows she's lucky to be alive.

He knows Hathor ... did something to him. Vague memories roil around in his mind, just out of reach. Carter says the _Goa'uld_ talked about making him into her First Prime. And -- apparently -- did. Temporarily. That isn't all. They've got the lab reports and forensics.

But it's reassuring -- in a really crap way -- because if it was him and the snakehead, he couldn't have done anything ... wrong ... to Indy. He knows he'd remember that, no matter how drugged-up he was. But he doesn't remember seeing her after the Briefing Room.

Then why did she look at him like that in the Infirmary? She didn't even look at him like that after Mankiewicz shot her dog.

Ten days later, when Indy writes up her final report, he realizes he must have been in the room when Hathor ... did what she did.

She said he was.

_'I was summoned to Hathor's quarters by two armed airmen. When I arrived, Colonel O'Neill was present. The airmen restrained me while Hathor used her ribbon device to--'_

Another thing to add to the things he doesn't remember.

But she seems pretty much back to normal -- a little quiet, maybe -- and in a couple of weeks Frasier will take her off medical exemption and they'll all be back in the field.

And God help Hathor if he ever gets his hands on her again.

###

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, papers could be written about the gamy subtext of Season One. And the plot-holes in this episode because... seriously, people? Hathor's been playing the God Game here on Earth all the way back to Ra's heyday and she never ONCE had sex with one of the natives? I mean, yeah, Daniel Jackson Is Pretty, but why does she feel she needs to snow him with this whole "Code of Life" thing?
> 
> And... Teal'c. A hundred years old, First Prime to Apophis, Jaffa About Town, and he knows zip about _Goa'uld_ Queens? I mean, we have canonical evidence that Apophis had a heavy date with one at least once (Klorel: "He has seeded the Queen!"), whether or not Amaunet is also a Queen. So personally, I think Teal'c might have said something a little sooner...
> 
> Which brings us to the stunning and amazing *ik* aspects of this remix, for which I apologize to those of you who are still in the shower. I'd set it up in "A Mirror For Observers", so now was the time to pay the piper. But the mentions there and this fic both came from the same question: just what was Hathor going to do if Daniel was Dani, and how could I give it as much centricity to the story as what happened to Daniel? Because Sam and Janet get off fairly lightly in terms of what happens to them after Hathor takes over the SGC, and certainly the story could have been spun to have Dani's experiences in line with theirs...
> 
> Only I didn't.


End file.
